Few things in life are finer than kicking back with a cold one - just ask the hundreds of thirsty folk that flock to North Vancouver breweries each week. Or the fleet of brewery owners that are pouring the pints. There’s plenty to pick from. They are now in their double digits.
Not only rivalling bustling brewery hubs like that of Port Moody and East Vancouver, the mushrooming North Van is growing to become one of the most notable in the country.
While its epicentre Brewery District lies just off Lonsdale Avenue and the Shipyards, on Esplanade East, where favourites like House of Funk, Shaketown Brewing, and La Cerveceria Astilleros reside, the takeover is quickly growing to encompass a much larger portion of the North Shore.
Matt Beere, (yes, his real name) opened Beere Brewing in 2017 at a time when the scene was less a scene and more of a hint of what was to come.
“We were the only ones in this area when we opened, and in that short time it has quickly changed,” he says.
The only other brewery in Lower Lonsdale at the time was the now-closed Green Leaf Brewing, one of four or five scattered across the entire North Shore.
Now, there are 13 breweries, and six in the Brewery District alone. Beere puts much of his initial success down to North Vancouver residents simply needing a place to wet their whistles at a time when the city was less built than it is now.
Yet the North Shore’s collective need for a cold one doesn’t explain why breweries are blossoming at a time where classic pubs seem to be part of a dying breed. In just the past year, long-standing establishments like Toby’s Social and the Black Bear have faced the axe. Are we just looking for a more elevated way to get merry?
There’s certainly something far more civilized about sitting with a craft beer in a bright brewery at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon then there is knocking back a pint in the dank public house. Perhaps it’s the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, or the lack of dingy carpet. Or, points out Beere, perhaps our preference for breweries over pubs stems from our heightened desire to know the exact where, how and when of the products we consume.
“People really like to be connected to the people that make their food and their drinks,” he says. “At our brewery, our tanks are six feet behind the bar, so you can see when you walk in exactly where the product you’re drinking was made. I think that has a big appeal.”
Craft beer might cost a few more bucks than your average draught of ubiquitous international swill but its price is its price for a reason, he adds. Those extra few dollars are representative of the quality of the beer, and, if the awards bagged in the last few years are anything to go by, that quality is second to none.
This May Shaketown Brewing Co. took home a bronze medal at the World Beer Cup for its Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, last year La Cervecería Astilleros’ nabbed a gold at the 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards for its summer staple El Valle Salado Salted Lime Lager, and the year prior, Wildeye Brewing won the best Czech Pilsner at the BC Beer Awards.
Most brewery owners tend to argue such fine beer requires a drinking experience that’s more akin to that of a sommelier than a son celebrating his 21st, and that makes for a far more refined setting that people want to sit in for longer.
“We put a lot of high quality ingredients into our beers, and maybe our customers drink a little bit less, but that’s okay,” says Beere. “It’s nice to see that kind of responsible consumption.”
As a result, breweries have become family friendly havens, a place of community rather than debauchery. Kids and babies are not only welcome but encouraged, and with the growing number of families living on the North Shore, it provides a place for them to squander long afternoons without fearing a call to social services.
“Breweries offer a very family-friendly kind of experience, where people can take their kids and casually relax without having the more inappropriate setup of being in a bar,” says Graham Elliott, owner of Pemberton Ave’s Beva Brewing and Blending.
Beva opened earlier this year as the newcomer to the scene, but hasn’t found it difficult to cement itself among some of the top dogs. Located in Norgate, it sits just outside of the actual Brewery District, but that hasn’t done much in the way of diminishing its foot traffic, says Elliott.
“Word of mouth has spread and we’re making great strides already. The community is incredibly supportive of local business,” he says. “There’s a lot of young families and there’s a lot of outdoor recreation that happens here, so at the end of your bike ride or your walk, it’s nice to be able to go and sit somewhere cool, enjoy a beer, connect with the community. It lends itself to that."
As Beva joins the growing list of breweries in the area, it’s easy to wonder whether there’s competition among owners. With new businesses coming in on the turf of the old, is there tension among managers?
“There’s no competition there,” laughs Beere, explaining how the managers get together once a month to have a pint and “chit chat” about business.
“Everybody gets along and there’s a really great relationship there, it’s a nice community of business owners.”
That said, Beere does have concerns that the North Shore may be teetering on its limit.
“I think that there is a carrying capacity, and I’m sure we’re around it or above it,” he says. “Now, I think maybe there’s a bit of a diminishing return because we have to divide all the customers by 10 or 11.”
With breweries extending their late licences - council has granted later opening hours for House of Funk brewing, and Streetcar Brewing applied earlier this year - it’s no longer a question of whether the brewery scene will grow, but how much livelier it will become.
While less than ten years ago you would be hard pressed to find a craft beer in a sunlit brewery on the North Shore, now there’s options aplenty and even the opportunity to stay there until the wee hours, should you wish. Port Moody and East Van, who?
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
